The Transparent Interface - Bolter, Remediation

The concept of the “transparent interface” is one concept Jay Bolter discusses in Remediation. It is the concept of a usable interface without buttons or icons.

Bolter states “The transparent interface is one more manifestation of the need to deny the mediated character of digital technology altogether.” (Bolter J, 2000: 24)

It is hard to imagine an interface which features no dragging or clicking. The idea of the “Transparent Interface” could be a device which receives its input from the natural movement of the user’s body. This type of interface could allow a designer to deftly manipulate a 3-D object, without being committed to constant keystrokes that access multitudes of tools.

The “Transparent Interface” exists in a virtual reality, in which the “user will move through the space interacting with the objects "naturally," as she does in the physical world.” Now that the definition of the transparent interface has been established, we can examine Bolter’s statement about “denying the mediated character”. (Bolter J, 2000: 23) Here, Bolter refers to the user’s desire for computer interaction to be a ‘natural’ act. Traditional computer interfaces feature tools and icons which aim to give the user the ability to easily access and operate them. As technology has developed, however, the process of ‘naturalising’ the act of interacting has become extremely streamlined. ‘Ease of Access’ is a large portion of what software designers consider when devising complex systems. This has caused the concept of the “transparent interface” to emerge. An interface which branches away from the conventional “immediacy of touching, dragging, and manipulating visually attractive ideograms.” (Bolter J, 2000: 23)

It is possible to derive the meaning of ‘denying the mediated’ as being an attempt to merge ourselves with the mediated, becoming a cyborg which accepts its electronic parts as ‘natural.’